sail tube

10" or 12" pvc tubes are insanly expensive. i looked into this for the same exact reason. i was floored to find the tubes come in 20' sections and cost about $500. this was a few years ago when gas was $4/gal but still shocked.

i found a tube at my local hobie dealer. he had a few in his yard. i paid about $80. the thing weight about 60lbs.

the BEST solution is a sail box but they cost about $1000. or more. You can get a custom made from a guy named Trey. Let me know if you want his contact info.

yea most of the cool ones I've seen they were found while driving by a constuction site and a section that was cut is just laying around, the guy offers $20 for it and converts it into a watertight and lockable sail box. Because of the light weight, I'd like to find a section of the black corrugated plastic pipe (like field tiling) and rig up sealable ends, clamp it on my trailer. I might try craigslist and failing that large construction sites just after quittin' time.....

careful trespassing on construction sites, its a felony here in florida

even with a hard hat that says "Union First" ?

If you can go ahead and buy a quality boat box it will last for a long time and keep your stuff safe. You can move it from boat to boat.

Quality boat box here.
http://www.sailboxes.com
Hand built by a fellow beachcat sailor.

I use the black construction tube type, corrogated on the outside and smooth on the inside. I use reducers for end caps. It has been on my trailer for over 12 years and shows no wear what so ever. I guess if it meant to go under ground and last for decades it should last twice as long above ground. When I got mine 2 of us shared one 20 foot piece. At that time is was less than $100 each for a 10 foot section and 2 end caps.

eddiecat wrote: I'm looking for an inexpensive storage container for my sails and tiller assembly for a Hobie 16. Want to secure it to my trailer, lockable and lightweight. I've seen a few including black corrugated plastic ones they said you have to find on construction sites, or the heavier white plumbing PVC tubes. Need to get something so my sail bag isn't hanging off the back of my truck anymore....thanks

Thanks guys
Damon that has to be the Cadillac of sail boxes 😎

I had called a local commercial piping distributor and a 10' X 12" section was going to run about $100.00 I would call around. The $500 for even for a 20' section sounds out of line.

Why not a simple 2"x2" construction lumber frame with a 1/4" or 3/16" plywood skin? Not pretty and you have to paint it, but it would do the job and is fairly easy to secure and waterproof. If you take it a step up and use western red cedar for the frame you can lighten it up a bit. You could probably do the whole thing using the dimensions from the sailboxes web site in about a day for under $200.

I have been considering this for a bit, my existing cat box is a little cramped and won't hold all my sails (currently sitting at 4 mains and 2 jibs with battens for 2 of them, watch for some of them in the classifieds soon). If I build one I will document it and post a cut list.

edited by: Wolfman, Jun 11, 2010 - 12:15 AM

damonAdmin wrote: If you can go ahead and buy a quality boat box it will last for a long time and keep your stuff safe. You can move it from boat to boat.

Quality boat box here.
http://www.sailboxes.com
Hand built by a fellow beachcat sailor.

Safe is a relative term...I'd venture that it's not as economically safe as insurance for its contents, but I certainly don't know without knowing the cost.

I bought a 10' x 12" PVC tube from Locke Supply for ~$55 and started drilling holes.

eddiecat wrote: Thanks guys
Damon that has to be the Cadillac of sail boxes 😎

👿 Yes it is, and I know it's not what you are looking for in this thread. The round tube pvc sail holders work great for thousands of Hobie 16 owners because there just isn't much to store, you can get away with rolling the main on the boom and the jib around that, shove the whole thing in the tube and your done. So no need for a large sail box.

But I didn't want a thread about sail storage boxes or sail boxes or trailer storage boxes to pass without a mention of my friend Kenny's sail box because he's put an amazing amount of work, time, and money in the project.

Also, a big advantage of the box a www.Sailboxes.com is that it can be shipped direct to your door un-assembled and riveted together on the scene.

I know several sailors that have have wood ones including one that you can't tell is wood. It has rounded top to allow water to run off and is finishes to such a shine that you cannot tell it is wood at all. You would have to make sure that your trailer can handle the weight of a wood one though.

I am very interested in making a sail tube for my trailer. In January I bought a aluminum tool box from a friend, it works perfectly for storing PFD's, harnesses, tools and spare parts. But, now I need a place to store my sails and boom.

Do any of you guys have pics of your homemade sail tubes?

I put three pictures of my sailtube in the technical section under the name sailtube. This is a twelve inch
tube. My second trailer will only get an 8 inch since that
is what I can get for free.

I am a big advocate of going to your local building supply and tell them what you're up to and ask if they have any damaged PVC pipe. The sales clerk didn't but encouraged me to stop back in and he showed me where they kept them. "just pull on in and look in our dent and chipped stack, we take 40% off" he said. If the supply center wasn't so close I would have slipped him a $5 and a business card - and say "call me when you get one".
Making a friend of an employee is always a good ideal!

I've used the smooth green PVC pipe because they have those very nice end caps available. They really make the troublesome issue of sealing off the end of the pipe - very easy. I drilled at an angle through the side of both the cap and pipe and added one of those Kryptonite U shaped bicycle locks. No flaky padlock assembly. Locked Solid. Nobody's going to get my sails!

someguyinohio wrote: Locked Solid. Nobody's going to get my sails!

Not without a sawzall lol.

Just saw this thread and wanted to say Thanks to Damon for recognizing my sailboxes...hope to see everyone at the Horn Island Hop 😉